The New Voices Team

Gloria Lassey

In January 1991, a wife, mother of three young children and full time marketing professional took the decision to add full time voluntary service to her already hectic daily schedule. I handled this new challenge with the same passion as I did the other three. As one who does not do things by halves, I fell deeply in love with this structured and organized way of rendering service to the needy.

Shortly after joining a Lioness Club, women in my District were given the opportunity to become Lions. I was one of the three women who took the bold decision to join the all-male Club in the city. Unsurprisingly, I rose through the ranks and became the first female District Governor of District 403A2. As a woman in that position, I had to fight tough battles to end the misconception that women cannot be competent leaders by making unprecedented impact in the areas of growth, female recruitment, quality and quantity of service delivery, and accessing funding.

My favourite service projects are ones that involve children. My most memorable was our joint project with ‘Operation Smile,’ which provided corrective surgery for children with cleft palate deformities. The beautiful post-surgery smiles of the babies, the joy on the mothers’ faces, the happiness of both the medical team and the volunteers can only bring one an ultimate sense of contentment.

Continuous training at every level of our association has honed my leadership skills. These skills come with creativity, innovation, resilience and enterprise, all of which are prerequisites to propel us into the second century of our service delivery. Best of all, I have a family anywhere in the world I find myself.

Women are compassionate by nature and have deep awareness of sympathy for another’s suffering. In the 2018-19 Lionistic year, we will take women’s leadership to a whole new level. Itr will become etched in our history as the year in which we have advanced women’s equity, and gives us the opportunity to build a stronger future for generations to come. It will be a confirmation of the fact that, given the chance, women are the game changers of the world, from the power of “We” to the power of “Women.” Our 1st female International President Gudrun Yyngvadottir has introduced the New Voices Initiative to fully unleash the potential of women in our Clubs.